SEOUL – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, as the two countries forge closer ties in the face of what they see as a hostile and aggressive United States-led Western camp.
Russia’s state-run Tass news agency reported that Mr Lavrov’s meeting with Mr Kim had lasted over an hour, but the ministry did not provide further details.
Mr Lavrov, who arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday, earlier thanked North Korea for backing Russia’s military actions in Ukraine and pledged Moscow’s “complete support and solidarity” for Mr Kim, Russia’s foreign ministry said.
Mr Lavrov’s visit is seen as setting the stage for a visit by President Vladimir Putin, who has stepped up cooperation with politically isolated North Korea.
Speaking at a reception hosted by the North on Wednesday, Mr Lavrov said Moscow “deeply” values Pyongyang’s “unwavering and principled support” for the war, which it calls a “special military operation”.
“Likewise, the Russian Federation extends its complete support and solidarity with the aspirations of the DPRK,” Mr Lavrov said, according to the transcript of the speech released on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
After talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, Mr Lavrov later told reporters that increased military activities by the US and its allies Japan and South Korea were a cause for concern, Russia’s state-run RIA news agency reported.
The US and South Korean navies on Thursday joined those of four other countries – Canada, Belgium, New Zealand and the Philippines – for an anti-naval mine exercise off South Korea’s south coast, the South Korean defence ministry said.
A US B-52 bomber made a rare landing in South Korea on Thursday to underline the two countries’ alliance against North Korea’s rising nuclear threats, South Korea’s military said.
In his comments, Mr Lavrov said North Korea, China and Russia were pursuing a policy of seeking to ease regional tensions.
North Korean state media said Mr Lavrov’s visit marks a “significant occasion” in further consolidating relations between the countries.
Photos released by the Russian Foreign Ministry showed Mr Lavrov being greeted by people holding flowers and flags of the two countries upon arrival.
Mr Lavrov’s two-day visit comes a month after Mr Kim made a rare trip to Russia, during which he invited Mr Putin to Pyongyang and discussed military cooperation.
Russia’s Tass news agency earlier said Mr Lavrov may also brief North Koreans on the results of Mr Putin’s visit to China.
A US think-tank said on Tuesday that satellite images showed continued activity around a North Korean port near Russia, indicating at least six trips by sea between the two countries since late August.
The shipments between the port of Rajin and Russia’s Dunai are possibly related to the transfer of North Korean munitions to Russia, the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said.
Separately, a North Korean cargo-passenger ferry that had carried foreign tourists from Japan or South Korea was seen at a dry dock at the Rajin port in October, most likely for maintenance, CSIS said.
It was not clear whether the vessel would be used to supplement trade activity between Russia and North Korea, the centre said.
The White House last week said North Korea recently provided Russia with a shipment of weapons in what it called a troubling development.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the Western allegations were not based on evidence.
South Korea and the US have expressed concern about increased exchanges between Russia and the North, and the allies have stepped up military drills together with Japan in response to the threat from North Korea.
South Korea has urged Russia to comply with United Nations resolutions in its exchanges with North Korea, a South Korean foreign ministry spokesperson told a briefing on Thursday. REUTERS
